Space 1999 - The Breakaway Decision
by the stargate time traveller
Summary: After the moon is torn out of the orbit of Earth, Victor Bergman assures John Koenig he made the right choice to not try to return them all home.


I don't own Space 1999.

How do you feel about the Big Finish plans to revive Space 1999? I'm looking forward to the new take, although I can understand why many would wish it wouldn't happen since the original series was amazing. But because Big Finish does amazing work, the revival should be fantastic, and hopefully with some new stories to go into Space 1999. I hope so.

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The Breakaway Decision.

It had been three hours since the Moon had broken away from Earth, and repairs were underway while everyone who'd been injured were getting themselves checked out; fortunately there had only been a few serious casualties, mostly a few bumps and bruises, though one or two had suffered a few decompression related injuries, that was it.

Sitting in the office he'd inherited from his predecessor, John Koenig, the new commander of Moonbase Alpha was going over the reports that he'd been given, and what he had learnt from Computer about their current situation.

It was so surreal, they were now travelling so fast away from Earth they were leaving their solar system. It had been a long time since humans had left the solar system for an extended period of time; the last time had been when Tony Cellini had commanded the disastrous Ultra Probe, but this was different. That expedition had been planned out, this one hadn't, and now the entire _moon _had been blasted out of orbit.

But one thing would stay with Koenig, and would likely haunt him until the day that he died; his decision to not bother returning to Earth. Some would be claiming by now that he had done it for selfish reasons, that he hadn't wanted to try to return home. If they believed that then they didn't know him at all.

John Koenig had thought through the plans to get them all back home, but as Captain Carter had proven with the trouble he'd had keeping up with the moon as it had been blasted out of orbit by the nuclear waste dump, which had accumulated for years and years until its magnetic energies had built up and up until it had burst like a volcano, or a rocket. Also, there was the issue that their Eagles were not designed for long-distance space travel without travel plots drawn up for them, and with the gravitational anomalies caused by the Breakaway, John did not want to even think about the possibility of what would happen if they tried. So he had made the hard choice, the only choice.

He had made the decision to remain on Alpha.

The newsreaders on Earth were talking about debates among scientific circles about the possibility of rescuing them, but Koenig knew nothing would come of it. Earth didn't have the time or the technology to get a ship through the gravitational anomalies anymore than the Eagles on Alpha could. In any case, the Space Commission had been funnelling their finances into the Meta Probe to discover the source of the mysterious transmissions coming from there. That ship was more advanced than the Ultra Probe, and a lot of time and work had gone into designing, researching, and building the ship so it would cope with the long duration flight. Earth had nothing to reach them. Yes, it might take them a few decades to reach the level they'd need, but by then the Moon would be long gone.

It didn't help matters that the International Space Station had also been hurled out of orbit, though god alone knew what had happened there, and now the moon was out of range.

A part of Koenig wondered if the Space Commission would try to find a way to use the Queller drive to reach them, but he doubted they would want to do that. The Queller drive was so dangerous, they may as well dig the graves of everyone on Alpha, not to mention those caught in a blast if something went wrong during the launch.

He cursed the Space Commission for thinking about finance only and for not supplying the moon with more durable spacecraft, for not even trying to find other ways of clearing up their nuclear mess, but he knew pointing the finger was Simmons' provenance, not his. He had more than enough on his plate.

Alpha had some resources. They had a hydroponic facility, a water production area, a powerplant, a complement of Eagles. And from what John understood, the moon was now travelling at light speed, and they were picking up more and more speed all the time. Time dilation was already taking hold unless it hadn't already.

Koenig, despite his earlier decision, couldn't help but wonder if they could escape. What if they escaped in their Eagles, and found a way to ride out the gravitational anomalies? But rationally he knew it was hopeless, and that there was no other way around it, they would have to stay on Alpha. It was a painful decision, but they had no choice unless they wished to live.

And the more time he tried to convince himself otherwise, the harder it became for him to accept it.

Koenig heard the com-lock chirp, and he picked it up and switched it on, and he saw Victor's face picked out in blue on the little screen. "Yes, Victor?" he asked.

"_John, I'm outside, mind if I come in?" _Victor asked.

John nodded and lifted up his com-lock to the door to let the scientist in, though he was curious about the reason for the visit. Victor walked in casually to the desk. It never ceased to amaze Koenig with just how easily Victor could be reassuring even in ominous moments, especially at moments like this.

"You did the right thing, John," Victor began.

John took a deep breath and looked down at his desk. Why was it he couldn't convince himself? "I wish I could believe that," he replied.

"I mean it," Victor countered, looking seriously at him. "This was always going to happen, John. I've been doing some quick calculations, based on what we'd learn prior to what happened, and what we're going through now. No matter if we had removed the nuclear waste and found some other way to get rid of it, either by launching it deeper into space, or placing it somewhere else. The electromagnetic effects were accumulative, and it would have blasted us away from our orbit. And if we had just moved the nuclear waste to another site, we'd have had the exact same problem, again and again. And if we had just removed some of the waste, and found other parts of the moon to bury it all, we would have been blasted out with more power than we'd gone through now. If that had happened, then we might not have survived."

Koenig was silent as he considered this. In truth, he had actually worked this all out. He was also aware that Simmons, as the mouthpiece of the administration back home, would have just ignored that little detail, and ordered the nuclear waste to be removed, all so then they would still be able to continue the transportation of nuclear waste to the moon from the mother planet. Simmons would have looked to the short term solution to the long term problem. Victor was right, the electromagnetic effects that no-one on Earth had ever imagined possible were accumulative, but Simmons and other political idiots like him would never have thought about the long-term consequences of moving the waste. They would simply have cared for the most cost-effective solution imaginable, and with the Meta Probe so close, Simmons would have made sure the easiest solution was chosen.

It was irrelevant now they were travelling through space. Thinking of the insufferable politician made John think because Simmons was still on Alpha, though what he was going to do now, at this point Koenig didn't know and didn't really care. It wasn't as if the man was going to cause much trouble, was he?

Koenig looked away, shoving all thoughts of Simmons from his mind. "I just don't know what to do, Victor," he admitted. It wasn't an easy confession to admit to, but this was Victor Bergman, one of John's oldest friends. If he would make this confession, it would be to him.

Victor smiled at him benevolently. "Just do your best John," he replied simply, "this situation is unexpected and dangerous, and it's not even covered in training, but if anyone can do it, you can; you're not like Gorski. But instead of just looking at this as its a struggle for survival, we should also see this as an opportunity."

John sighed. "What do you mean?'

"Well, think about it, apart from one or two exceptions, no-one has gone too far from Earth. Who knows what we'll encounter? Along the way we can learn more about space," Victor said, visibly getting excited at the prospect but John instantly put a stop to that.

"Victor, you know we cannot survive indefinitely on Alpha. You know how hard it was to get money and material here to maintain the systems here on Alpha, especially the life support requirements. We need to find a place to live."

"I know," Victor replied. "But think, even if we find a world which is perfect, we will have the opportunity to learn more about space in the meantime. We will also need to learn how to change. I was a strong proponent as you are aware of the expansion of Alpha and the facilities here, but it never came to anything. We will have to cope with what we've got, but we have the motive to expand now if we have the time. It will be alright, John. Just give it time."

With that the scientist turned around and walked away, seemingly confident that his visit had helped, and it had in a way. John Koenig sat in his chair and watched as his friend left. He had to admit to himself that Victor was right - this was an opportunity for them to learn about space, and who knew what they would encounter. But he only hoped he learnt to live with his decisions, and that he had not condemned them to death.

* * *

Author's Notes.

Simmons will eventually go on to cause a lot of trouble when the Kaldorians appear in the episode "Earthbound" when he first tries to suggest they wipe out the crew of a spaceship en-route to Earth so they could return to their planet, and he then threatened to destroy the base when Koenig made the decision of leaving it up to the computer to decide on who would be going back, so he blackmailed the base by stealing their power source. In return for their power back, he would take a place on the spaceship, completely ignorant that the suspended animation unit was prepared for someone else. The Kaldorian ship left the moon, and Simmons realised too late he was going to die.

The Queller drive made an appearance as the propulsion system of a Voyager probe which spewed out dangerous radiation. It travelled through space, and it brought to the moon aliens who wanted revenge for the destruction it had caused, in the episode "Voyager's Return."


End file.
